Did Jim DeMint Kill The Bill?

This is interesting, and encouraging:

…because of the Senator DeMint’s objection, unless the House votes for the Senate bill unchanged — which is highly unlikely (see below) — then the Senate ObamaCare bill must be amended on the House floor to gain the votes they need to pass it on the House floor. And because of Senator DeMint’s objection to the appointment of the conferees, there will be no conference, or conference report.

If the House amends the Senate bill, they then have to send the amended bill back to the Senate — where all the 60 vote margin cloture votes still apply — cloture on the motion to proceed, and cloture to end the filibuster and cloture on any amendment.

Do I believe that this objection to the appointment of the conferees will kill ObamaCare? Yes, if the progressives or those 64 House Democrats who voted for the Stupak amendment do not roll over and play dead.

This monkey wrench may explain why the White House is putting out the word that it wants the health care bill to pass the House after the State of the Union, in February.

The longer this takes, the better the chances of it dying. It barely made it through the House the first time, and a lot of the Blue Dogs have to be rethinking their position, while the left will want to stand on principle (to the degree that they have any).

31 thoughts on “Did Jim DeMint Kill The Bill?”

  1. The house did anounce they will not vote no the Senate bill as is – but will demand changes in conference. Given the insane amount of pork and micro changes the Senate needed to get this bill out of the Senate, confernced changes (and spending the holidays with constituants) might make them unwilling to accept the conference version, regardless of the kickbacks offered! And the House wants a radically different bill anyway.

    This might explain why House/Senate/White House talk of it being ready to sign in a coulpe weeks is now “sometime after the state of the union”.

    Also Obama and such folks said it needed to get passed this year – because in a election year it could be unpassable.

    🙂

  2. Don’t kid yourselves. obowma is now moving to the center because he knows this is a done deal. Daley in Chicago just threw him a bone of political cover.
    http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2009/12/daley-warns-obama-back-off-lefty-really.html
    He can now move to the center and solidify his “centrist” creds just in time for 2012. Ya gotta give it to the left, this whole scheme was a master stroke of political gamesmanship. They have taken over the United States without firing a single bullet.

  3. No this will not kill the bill. The reason is that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will simply send messages back and froth to resolve the two bills and write it up themselves (aka their staff). Hence they will not use conference.

  4. I think this because we are now seeing terrorists blown up in Yemen. Watch for osama bin laden to miraculously be caught, dead or alive sometime in the near future.

  5. Yes, any of these sorts of things gives a ray of hope. But I think congressional Dems are utterly hellbent on getting this thing, in some form, however absurd, passed. And soon. The emerging theory that there are no Blue Dogs, only Dems who can sometimes be allowed to vote no when their votes are not crucial, looks pretty right to me. The demonic Reid and Pelosi will find a way, I fear.

    Thanks for the small spot of hope, though.

  6. I am no expert but from my view, the Democrats will squeak something through. While I am pessimistic, that doesn’t make me want to roll over. Let’s make it as painful as possible: calls/emails to Senators (that get angrier and angrier), Twitter posts, trips to DC gatherings, etc. Battle idiocy at every turn!

  7. For the love of God, someone please explain this to me. I am just a caveman. Your talk of “conferees” and “objections” frightens and confuses me. Even though I think it’s something I’m supposed to like.

  8. Of course, there is no limit to how much of our money Reid is willing to use to buy off votes in the Senate…

  9. This zombie has already risen from the grave so many times, I won’t believe it is over until it’s head is blown off by a blast from a 12 gauge. Thanks be that it also stumbles around stupidly like a zombie, so it’s not so hard to aim at it.

  10. Game of chicken. House could just pass Senate bill as is and also pass an the amendment to the bill as a separate bill and send the amendment to the Senate. That way health care passes and just amendments get fought over. Might be enough public pressure to get Senate to consider amendment legislation with plenty of time until passed health care takes effect. Gives Obama win and allows Congress to save face over controversial parts and consider changes.

  11. Any House or Senate member who didn’t get the same deal as Nebraska and Louisiana ought to be sharpening his pen right now. I’m encouraging my Senators and house people to get the best set-asides and deals as possible, plus the cure for cancer, the permission to secede and the cessation of all Federal Income Taxes for Texans as a price to secure their vote.

  12. I’m not at all sure what Dan Perrin is talking about, and he doesn’t source that part of his post. How does an individual (minority) Senator derail a conference, and unilaterally fix the subsequent procedure? John Fund suggests that Reid and Pelosi would actually prefer to do this without a conference, and he describes a Ping Pong approach that is very different.

    Merry Christmas!

  13. “I’m not at all sure what Dan Perrin is talking about, and he doesn’t source that part of his post.”

    Yeah, this is what my previous comment was getting at too. Perrin’s post is really confusing, though he seems optimistic about whatever it is he thinks he’s describing, so that’s good.

    Oh, wait, I just noticed my aforementioned “previous comment” is in moderation for some reason, so I don’t know if this one will make sense.

  14. …How does an individual (minority) Senator derail a conference…

    Well he uses the Rules. Which rules the deamoncrats have ignored so far…

  15. God Bless Jim DeMint if this KILLS this awful piece of CRIMINAL legislation.

    Merry Christmans to all American Patriots!

  16. Small lies,Big lies and lies that passeth all understanding.OB`s spiritual father must be chortling with glee.Well done ,my son;you have earned a hallowed place for this great effort to Damn America.Go forth and increase your speldid work and you will be remembered forever

  17. For liberal regressives (mostly Democrats, and ALL Democrat leaders) the End justifies the Means.

    They will lie, cheat and do anything else necessary to increase their power over YOU.

    To win the war, you must be willing to sacrifice more than your enemy is willing to sacrifice.

    FIGHT BACK.

  18. I have mixed feelings. Sometimes things have to get very bad before improvement can happen.

    If this bill passes, and costs Democrats elections for the next 20 years, that still might be a net positive, as many entitlements beyond just this bill can get repealed.

    America has a lot to gain by making Obama fail so totally, that no remotely left-wing candidate can ever get elected for a generation.

    Sort of like 9/11 forced 2 invasions that forced major change in the Muslim world (which, by all accounts, is less terrorist-supporting than 5 years ago).

  19. One thing I don’t understand–if everyone is going to be REQUIRED to purchase health care or be put in prison, why do we need Medicaid? Why not just get a good JOBS bill and then people will be able to buy their own insurance?
    What other governmental requirements are coming at us? Are we soon going to face mandatory weight restrictions? Height restrictions?
    One thing that is ironic to me–churchesd used to take care of people in need in communities. The government came in and declared churches to be the wrong group to provide this help. Government took over. Since then, we’ve been on a direct path to Hell in a Handbasket. Change of direction anyone?

  20. I predict yO’mama will be the first president buried outside the U.S. The 2nd American Revolution’s patriots will insist that what remains of his remains do not sully our soil.

    And the sooner the better.

  21. What is overlooked is that even if this monstrosity passes, so much of it is unconstitutional that the bill will be litigated in the courts for years and may never be implemented in any form similar to what the Senate passed.

  22. I have been tweeting and e-mailing DeMint and other GOP Senators to object to the conferee’s for weeks before the vote and to stand up, be bold and create some drama to be seen. Yes, hopefully his objection to conferee’s is good. Obama has asked libs to write and e-mail their senators and house reps to say why they want Obamacare so be sure you too have written, e-mailed, called and twittered.

Comments are closed.